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HEPORT 



COLONIZATION AND EMIGRATION, 



< THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 



AGENT OF EMIGRATION. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1862. 



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CONTENTS 



Page. 

1 . Eaactments relating to emigration . 5 

2. President Lincoln's addiess to men of color 6 

3. Danish proposition - 8 

4. Proposition of the minister of the government of the Netherlands 16 

5. British Guiana 17 

6. British Honduras - 18 

7. Liberia 20 

8. Hayti — proposition to colonize the island of A' Vache 20 

9. Chiriqui 25 

10. Ecuador 26 

11. Contrabands and freed men 27 

12. The office of emigration or colooization 28 

1.3. Secretary Seward's circular 28 



REPORT 



COLONIZATION AND EMIGRATION. 



Emigration Office, 
Department of the Interior, Washingto7i, December 4, 1862. 

Sir : Permit me to present a report of tlie progress and present condition of 
the colonization measures, yet in their initiatory stages, with an enxxmeration of 
the pending propositions made by sundry States and colonial authorities, all of 
which are now under advisement. 

At the last session of Congress the following provisions were enacted : 

1. Section 11 of act approved Ap>ril 16, 1862: "That the sum of one 
hundred thousaixd dollars, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise ap- 
propriated, is hereby appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the 
President of the United States, to aid in the colonization and settlement of 
such free persons of African descent now residing in said District, including 
those to be liberated by this act, as may desire to emigrate to the republic of 
Hayti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States 
as the President may determine : Provided, The expenditure for this purpose 
shall not exceed over one hundred dollars for each emigrant." 

2. Furthermore, in " An act making s^ipplemental appropriations for sundry 
civil expenses,'^ ^-c, approved July 12, 1862, I have the following provision : 
" To enable the President to carry out the act of Congress for the emancipation 
of the slaves in the District of Columbia, and to colonize those to be made free 
by the probable passage of a confiscation bill, five hundred thousand dollars, to 
be repaid to the treasury out of confiscated property, to be used at the discre- 
tion of the President, in securing the right of colonization of said persons made 
free, and in payment of the necessary expenses of their removal." 

3. And again, in section 12 of " An act to supj)ress insurrection,^' 4"*^., approved 
July 17, 1862, it is provided: "That the President of the United States is 
hereby authorized to make provision for the transportation, colonization, and 
settlement, in some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of 
such persons of the African race, made free by the provisions of this act, as 
may be willing to emigrate, having first obtained the consent of the government 
of said country to their protection and settlement within the same, with all the 
rights and privileges of freemen." 

It will be seen distinctly that those provisions link into each other, and con- 
stitute the foundation of our colonization measures, as proposed and recom- 
mended in the annual message of the Chief Magistrate, and his subsequent an- 
nouncements. 

Furthermore, a bill has been introduced during the last session to create a 
permanent oftice or department, to which such matters may be referred. The 
President having commissioned the writer with all the powers of the proposed 
commissioner or agent in such a department, he opened a widely extended 
correspondence on the subject of voluntary emigration, whilst the President, in 
the goodness of his heart, for the first time in the history of the country, re- 



ceivecl and addressed a number of colored men as representatives of tlieir race 
in the following terms, which it is all important to record, as constituting one of 
the most important chapters in the history of the country. 

On the 14th of July, after the necessary preliminary arrangements were 
made, I introduced a committee of five persons of color to the President, who 
received them kindly and cordially, and then informed them that a sum of 
money had been appropriated by Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the 
purpose of aiding the colonization, in some country, of the people, or a portion 
of them, of African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long 
time been his inclination, to favor that cause. And why, he asked, should the 
people of your race be colonized, and where ? Why should they leave this 
country 1 This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You 
and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than 
exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I 
need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, 
as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, 
Avhile ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If 
this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. You 
here nxe freemen, I suppose. 

Yes, sir, answered one. 

The President. Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. Your 
race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people. 
But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being 
placed on an equality with the white race. You are cut off from many of 
the advantages which the other race enjoy. The aspiration of men is to enjoy 
equality with the best, when free ; but on this broad continent not a single man 
of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are 
treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. 

I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact Avith which Ave 
have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we all 
think and feel alike, I and you. We look to our condition, OAving to the exist- 
ence of the tAvo races on this continent. I need not recount to you the effects 
upon white men, groAving out of the institution of slavery. I believe in its 
general evil effects on the Avhite race. See oixr present condition — the country 
engaged in war ; our Avhite men cutting one another's throats, none knoAving 
hoAV far it will extend — and then consider what we know to be the truth. But 
for your race among us there could not be war, although many men engaged on 
either side do not care for you one Avay or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, 
without the institution of slaA'ery, and the colored race as a basis, the Avar 
could not have an existence. 

It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I know that there are 
free men among you who, even if they could better their condition, are not as 
much inclined to go out of the country as those Avho, being slaves, could obtain 
their freedom on this condition. I suppose one of the principal difficulties in 
the way of colonization is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort 
would be advanced by it. You may believe you can live in Washington 
or elscAvhere in the United States the remainder of your life, perhaps more so 
than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the conclusion 
that you have nothing to do Avith the idea of going to a foreign country. This 
is (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the case. 

But you ought to do something to help those Avho are not so fortunate as 
yourselves. There is an uuAvillingness on the part of our people, harsh as it 
may be, for you free colored people to remain with us. Now, if you could give 
a start to white people, you Avould open a Avide door for many to be made free. 
If Ave deal Avith those who are not free at the beginning, and whose intellects 
are clouded by slavery, we have very poor materials to start Avith. If intelli- 



gent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this matter, much might 
be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we have men at the begin- 
ning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been system- 
atically oppressed. 

There is much to encourage you. For the sake of your race you should 
sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in 
that respect as the white people. It is a cheering thought throughout life that 
something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been sub- 
ject to the hard usage of the world. It is difficult to make a man miserable 
while he feels he is Avorthy of himself, and claims kindred to the great God who 
made him. In the American revolutionary war sacrifices were made by men 
engaged in it ; but they were cheered by the future. General Washington him- 
self endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British 
subject. Yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his 
race — something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own. 

The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense 
it is a success. The old President of Libei'ia, Roberts, has just been with me — 
the first time I ever saw him. He says they have within the bounds of that 
colony between 300,000 and 400,000 people, or more than in some of our old 
States, such as Rhode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and 
less than in some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists or 
their descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this 
country. Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere, 
their offspring outnumbers those deceased. 

The question is, if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why 
not there ? One reason for an imwillingness to do so is, that some of you would 
rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know 
how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me 
that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to 
them at all events. 

The place I am thinking about having for a colony is in Central America. It 
is nearer to us than Liberia — not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, 
and within seven days run by steamers. Unlike Liberia, it is on a great line of 
travel — it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any people, and 
with great natural resources and advantages, and especially because of the simi- 
larity of climate with your native land ; thus being suited to your physical con- 
dition. 

The particular place I have in view is to be a great highway from the Atlantic 
or Caribbean sea to the Pacific ocean, and this particular place has all tlie ad- 
vantages for a colony. On both sides there are harbors among the first in the 
world. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount 
of coal is valuable in any country, and there may be more than enough for the 
wants of the country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it Avill afford 
an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready 
to settle permanently in their homes. 

If you take colonists Avherc there is no good landing, there is a bad show ; 
and so where there is nothing to cultivate and of which to make a farm. But 
if something is started, so that yoix can get your daily bread as soon as you reach 
there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best thing I know of with Avhich 
to commence an enterprise. 

To return, you have been talked to upon this subject and told that a specu- 
lation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the country, including 
the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know whites 
as well as blacks look to their own interest. Unless among those deficient of 
intellect everybody you trade with makes something. Yoii meet with these 
thino-s here as elsewhere. 



8 

If such persou^ have what will be an advantage to them, the c[uestion is 
whether it cannot be made of advantage to you. You are intelligent and know 
that success does not as much depend on extenial help as on self-reliance. 
Much, therefore, depends upon yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see 
the means available for'your self-reliance. 

I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provisions made that 
you shall not be wronged. If you Avill engage in the enterprise I Avill spend 
some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The gov- 
ernment may lose the money, but we cannot succeed unless we try ; but we 
think, with care, we can succeed. 

The political affidrs in Central America are not iu quite as satisfactory condi- 
tion as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter ; but, it is true, 
all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization and want it, and 
are more generous than Ave are here. To your colored race they have no ob- 
jection. Besides, I Avould endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best 
assurance that you should be the equals of the best. 

The practical thing I want to ascertain is Avhether I can get a number of able- 
bodied men, Avith their wi\'es and children, Avho are Avilling to go AA^hen I pre- 
sent evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I get a hundred tolera- 
bly intelligent men, Avith their Avives and children, to " cut their own fodder," so 
to speak .' Can I have fifty ? If I could rind tAveuty-five able-bodied men, 
Avith a mixture of Avomen and children, good things in the family relation, I 
think I could make a successful commencement. 

I Avant you to let me know Avhether this can be done or not. This is the prac- 
tical part of my Avish to see you. These are subjects of vciy great importance, 
Avorthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour. I ask you, then, 
to consider seriously, not pertaining to yourseh^es merely, nor for your race and 
ours for the present time, but as one of the things, if successfully managed, for 
the good of mankind — not confined to the present generation, but as — 

" From age to age descends the lay 
To millions yet to be. 
Till far its echoes roll away 
Into eternity." 

The above is merely given as the substance of the President's remarks. 

The chairman of the delegation briefly replied that " they Avould hold a con- 
sultation and in a short time giA'e an answer." The President said : " Take your 
full time — no hurry at all." 

The delegation then AvithdreA\'. 

To this address the return mails brought hundreds of letters from colored 
men iu all ]iarts of the country, closing in Avith the proposition to inaugurate a 
calm and peaceful separation of the races. 

And the distant national authorities, learning clearly the sacrifice this republic 
Avas Avilling to make for the sake of harmony in its social and ciA'il circles, haA^e 
throAvn open their tropical possessions to receive our people of color who may 
desire to remoA'e to new and more faA^ored fields of enterprise, Avhere the chances 
to rise to position, power, and enlarged usefulness are more numerous than in 
this distracted coimtry. 

The following are the most important propositions Avhich have been made by 
foreign poA\ers and other parties : 

DANISH PROPOSITION. 

First ill order of time, we will note that of Denmark, Avhich has already been 
laid before Congress in a communication of the Secretary of State, dated June 
6, 1SG2, Avhich we copy as a paper Avorth reproducing in this connexion, for the 
aid of our friends Avho are casting around them for Avell-digested labor laws for 
the tise of colonies and plantations. 



Danish Legation, 
Washington, April 23, 1862. 

Sir : The Danish island of St. Croix, in the Wef*t Indies, which is a sugar- 
growing conntiy, has, for several years past, been checked in its progress tow- 
ards increased prosperity and the full development of its agricultural resources 
by the want of manual labor — the present rural population being insufficient for 
those purposes ; and it has thus become an object of prominent importance for 
that island to call forth and encourage the immigration of a laboring population 
from other countries. Among the plans and propositions for such immigration, 
which have consequently been devised by the authorities of St. Croix, is one, 
according to which it is contemplated to otier to negroes, who, in consequence 
of the recent political events in this country, may have become emancipated, or 
who may, at all events, have acquired the right and faculty to dispose of them- 
selves, an opportunity of emigrating from this country to St. Croix. This plan 
has met with the approbation of his Majesty's government, and the undersigned 
has been instructed to favor its realization, and, if the government of the United 
States should be Avilling, to negotiate and enter into a special convention, 
whereby the contemplated emigration would be placed luider the auspices and 
the guarantee of the tAvo governments. The governor of the Danish West In- 
dia possessions has also appointed a special agent, who has arrived in this 
country, for the purpose of making all necessary arrangements for the transport 
of such persons, of the description above alluded to, as may be found desirous 
of emigrating from this country to the island of St. Croix. The terms which 
that agent is authorized to oifer to such emigrants are : free transport to St. 
Croix for all those who engage to labor on a sugar plantation for a term of three 
years — the emigrants to be, during that tenii as well as after its expiration, 
treated in every respect, and, namely, to receive the same compensation for their 
labor, as the native free rural population. 

I enclose a memorandum describing the condition of that population, such as 
it has been regulated and determined by laws, the wisdom and humanity of 
which are universally recognized, and shall only add the remark, that any en- 
couragement in the shape of outfit, or premium, or other pecuniary assistance;, 
which the government of the United States may determine to offer to emigrants 
going to St. Croix, will accrue to their immediate and direct advantage, and go 
to improve their future condition over and above what the laws of St. Croix, as 
above menticmed, secure to the immigrant as Avell as to the native rural popula- 
tion. 

Keferring to what I have had the honor of stating above, I therefore beg respect- 
fully to inform you that I shall be prepared, if and when the government of the 
United States shall inform me of its willingness, to negotiate and to enter into 
a special convention for the emigration of free negroes belonging to the cate- 
gories above alluded to, as well as their colonization in St. Croix, and also that 
the above-mentioned special agent from St. Croix will be prepared, whether it 
be under such a convention or without it, to visit the localities in which persons 
may be found, with a view of setting fairly before them the terms which he is au- 
thorized to offer to emigrants to St Croix, and to arrange and to carry out such 
emigration, provided the government of the United States will permit him to 
do so, and that he may expect in his operations to be allowed such facilities as 
the case may admit of, and as the government of the United States may be at 
liberty to gi-ant. Feeling satisfied, as I do, that the moral and material exist- 
ence, which the emigrant would be sure to find in St. Croix, is all that his best 
friends can desire for him, I beg to express the hope that, whatever may be the 
present or immediate result of the communication I have hereby the honor of 
submitting, the government of the United State will eventually give to this project 
of emio-ration as favorable a consideration and as much of countenance and en- 



10 

couragement as to other similar plans and propositions which may be presented 
hereafter from other sides. 

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you, sir, the assurance of my very 
higli consideration. 

W. RAASLOFF. 
Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State of the United States, Washington, D. C. 



Memora7ulu7n describing the condition of the free rural (negro) population in 
the Danish island of St. Croix, West Indies. 

The Danish government emancipated the slaves in St. Croix in the year 1848, 
paying to their owners a reasonable compensation. Fearing, however, that the 
sudden transition from slavery to entire and unrestricted freedom might prove 
injurious to the morality of the people, especially if they were allowed to fall 
into habits of idleness and vice, whereby also the prosperity of the whole com- 
munity would be serioiisly endangered, the government issued, shortly after, on 
the 26th of July, 1849, a "Provisional act to regulate the relations between the 
proprietoi'S of landed estates and the rural population of free laborers," of which 
a copy is hereto annexed. The general features of this act, which still remains 
in foi'ce, but a modification of which is now contemplated in the sense of gradu- 
ally abolishing the fixed price for labor and of allowing a free competition among 
the laborers, are the following : the price of labor is fixed by law ; and when a 
laborer engages to work on an estate, it must be for a term of one year, in order 
that he may not, by declining to work Avhen the crop is ready, cause the ruin of 
the estate ; but he is at liberty, at the expiration of that term, to engage work 
elsewhere, or to leave the agricultural districts and to remove to one of the towns, 
provided he can show any honest means of livelihood, in which case there is no 
restriction on the price of labor, and he becomes in every respect as free as any 
white man. Many negroes have already availed themselves of this latter alter- 
native, and have become owners of real estate. The laborer is also at liberty, 
at the expiration of his contract, to leave the island entirely. No punishment is 
allowed on tlu^ estate ; and any complaint from either the proprietor or the laborer 
is referred to and decided by the magistrate, who is appointed by the crown. 
The whole aim and tendency of the above-mentioned stipulations in the " Pro- 
visional act" has been, on the part of the Danish goveinimcnit, to secure the wel- 
fare of the people, to prevent able-bodied laborers from becoming vagrants, and 
gradually to prepare the emancipated slaves for a rational enjoyment of entire 
and unrestricted freedom. The price of labor in money is, for an adult or first- 
class laborer, 15 cents for each of the first five days of the week, and 20 cents 
for Saturday. This remuneration, in money, may appear small in this country, 
but it is the usual price paid in the West Indies, and is, besides, enhanced by 
several valuable advantages. Generally, all the members of a family, small 
children only excepted, will have occasion to earn wages as first, second, or third- 
class laborers ; and they are, moreover, furnished with the necessary food for a 
week (six quarts of corn meal and two pounds of salt fish) at a fixed price of 25 
cents, Avhile it costs the proprietor from 35 to 40 cents. Each family is furnished 
with a good house, rent free, and a piece of ground for raising their own vege- 
tables ; they are generally well provided with fruit and sugar, as well as bread, 
and other supplies are frequently given to them by the estate. The lioiu-s of 
labor are nine to nine and a half hours per day, and very moderate labor at that. 
Ten cents per month are deducted fi-om the wages of the laborers, for which they 
are provided with medical attendance, which is excellent, and also with medicines. 

The children are by law obliged to attend school five days in the week till 



11 

their tenth year it* completed, and afterwardi? on Saturdays only until they have 
filled their thirteenth year. The schools are well conducted, and kept at the 
expense of the government. Nobody is obliged to go to church ; bi;t custom, 
public opinion, and the religious training of the rural population — which, to- 
gether with the schooling of the children, for many years jjast, and when slavery 
prevailed, was an object of special solicitude with the Danish government — 
cause the churches to be largely attended ; and to see those Avell-dressed people, 
many of them in carts drawn by ponies belonging to themselves, go to church 
on a Sunday, impi-esses the beholder Avith a conviction that they are a contented 
and happy people, and that the Danish laws have proved themselves to be both 
wise and lunnane. It is, in fact, owing to the wisdom of those laws that the 
emancipation of the slaves in St. Croix has proved more successful there than 
that in any other country in securing the happiness and progress in civilization of 
the negro without ruining the owners of the land. 

The climate of St. Croix is universally known as extremely agreeable and 
salubrious. The English language is generally, or it may be said almost exclu- 
sively, used all over the island. 

W. RAASLOFF. 



Provisional act to regulate the relations betiveen the proprietors of landed 
estates and the rural population of free laborers. 

I, Peter Hansex, knight commander of the order of Dannebrog, the king's 
commissioner for, and officiating governor general of, the Danish West India 
islands, 

Make known : That whereas the ordinance dated 29th July, 1848, by 
which yearly contracts for labor on landed estates were introduced, has not been 
duly acted upon ; whereas the interest of the proprietors of estates as well as 
of the laborers requires that their mutual obligations shoiild be defined ; and 
whereas, on inquiry into the practice of the island, and into the private contracts 
and agreements hitherto made, it appears expedient to establish uniform rales 
throughout the island for the guidance of all parties concerned, it is enacted and 
ordained : 

Para. 1. All engagements of laborers now domiciled on landed estates, and 
receiving wages in money or in kind for cultivating and working such estates, 
are to be continued, as directed by the ordinance of 29th July, 1848, until the 
1st day of October of the present year; and all similar engagements shall in 
future be made, or shall be considered as having been made, for a term of tweh'e 
months, viz : from the 1st of October till the 1st of October, year after year. 

Engagements made by heads of families are to include their childi-en between 
five and fifteen years of age, and other relatives depending on them and staying 
with them. 

Para. 2. No laborer engaged as aforesaid in the cultivation of the soil shall 
be discharged or dismissed from, nor shall be permitted to dissolve, his or her 
engagement before the expiration of the same on the 1st of October of the present 
or of any following year, except in the instances hereafter enumerated : 

A. By mutual agreement of master and laborer before a magistrate. 

B. By order of a magistrate, on just and equitable cause being shown by the 
parties interested. 

Legal marriage, and the natural tie between mothers and their children, shall 
be deemed by the magistrate just and legal cause of removal from one estate to 
another. The husband shall have the right to be removed to his wife, the wife 
to her husband, and children under fifteen years of age to their mother, provided 



12 

no objection to employing sncli individualt* t?liall be made by the owner of the 
estate to which the removal is to take place. 

Para. 3. No engagement of a laborer shall be lawful in future unless made 
in the presence of witnesses and entered in the day-book of the estate. 

Para. 4. Notice to quit service shall be given by the employer, as well as by 
the laborer, at no other period but once a year, in the month of August, not 
before the first nor after tlie last day of the said month. An entry thereof shall 
be made in the day-book, and an acknowledgment in writing shall ])e given to 
the laborer. 

The laborer shall have given or received legal notice of removal from the 
estate Avhere he serves before any one can engage his services. Otherwise the 
new contract to be void, and the party engaging or tampering with a laborer 
employed by others will be dealt with according to law. 

In case any owner or manager of an estate should dismiss a laborer during 
the year without sufficient cause, or should refuse to receive him at the time 
stipulated, or refuse to grant him a passport when due notice of removal has 
been given, the owner or manager is to pay full damages to the laborer, and to 
be sentenced to a fine not exceeding $20. 

Para. 5. Laborers employed or rated as first, second, or third class laborers 
shall perform all the work in the field, or about the works, or othei'wise con- 
cerning the estate, which it hitherto has been customary for such laborers to 
perform according to the season. They shall attend fixithfully to their work, 
and willingly obey the directions given by the employer or the person appointed 
by him. No laborer shall presume to dictate what work he or she is to do, or 
refuse the Avork he may be ordered to perform, xmless expressly engaged for 
some particular work only. If a laborer thinks himself aggrieved, he shall not 
therefore leave the work, but in due time fvpply for redress to the owner of the 
estate or to the magistrate. 

It is the diity of all laborers on all occasions and at all times to protect the 
property of his employer, to prevent miscJiief to the estate, to apprehend evil- 
doers, and not to give countenance to, or conceal, unlawful practices. 

Para. 6. The working days to be, as iisual, only five days in the week, and 
the same days as hitherto. The ordinary work of estates is to commence at 
sunrise and to be finished at sunset every day, leaving one hour for breakfast, 
and two hours at noon from 12 to 2 o'clock. 

Planters who prefer to begin the work at 7 o'clock in the morning, making 
no separate breakfast time, are at liberty to adopt this plan, either during the 
year or when out of crop. 

The laborers shall be present in due time at the place where they are to work. 
The list to be called and answered regularly ; whoever does not answer the list 
when called is too late. 

Para. 7. No throwing of grass or of wood shall be exacted during extra 
hours, all former agreements to the contrary notwithstanding ; but during crop 
the laborers are expected to bring home a bundle of longtops from the field 
where they are at work. 

Oartmen and crook-people, wlien breaking off, shall attend properly to their 
stock, as hitherto usual. 

Para. 8, During crop the mill-gang, the crook-gang, boilermen, firemen, still- 
men, and any other persons employed about the mill and the boiling house, shall 
continue their work during breakfast and noon hours, as hitherto usual, and the 
boilermen, firemen, magass carriers, &c., also dui'ing evening hours after sunset, 
Avhen required ; but all workmen employed as aforesaid shall be paid an extra 
remuneration for the work done by them in extra hours. 

The boiling house is to be cleared, the mill to be washed down, and the 
magass to be swept up, before the laborers leave the work, as hitherto usual. 

The mill is not to turn after six o'clock in the eveniuo-, and the boiling not to 



13 

be continued after ten o'clock, except by special permission of the governor 
general, wlio tlien will determine if any, and what extra remuneration shall be 
paid to the laborers. 

Para. 9. The laborers are to receive, until otherwise ordered, the following 
remuneration : 

A. The use of a house or dwelling rooms for themselves and their children, 
to be built and repaired by the estate, but to be kept in proper order by the 
laborers. 

B. The use of a piece of provision ground, thirty feet in square as usual, for 
every first and second class laborer; or, if it be standing ground, up to fifty feet 
in square. Third-class laborers are not entitled to, but may be allowed some 
provision ground. 

C. Weekly wages at the rate of fifteen cents to every first-class laborer, of 
ten cents to every second-class laborer, and of five cents to every third-class 
laborer, for every working day. 

Where +he usual allowance of meal and herrings has been agreed on in part 
of wages, full weekly allowance shall be taken for five cents a day, or twenty- 
five cents a week. 

Nurses losing two hours every working day shall be paid at the rate of four 
full working days in the Aveek. 

The wages of minors to be paid as usual to their parents, or to the person in 
charge of them. 

Laborers not calling at pay-time personally, or by another authorized, to wait 
till next pay day, unless they were prevented by working for the estate. 

No attachment of wages for private debts to be allowed, nor more than two- 
thirds to be deducted for debts to the estate, unless otherwise ordered by the 
magistrate. 

Extra provisions occasionally given during the ordinary working hours are 
not to be claimed as a right, nor to be bargained for. 

Para. 10. Work in extra hours during crop is to be paid as follows : 

To the mill-gang and to the crook-gang, for working through the breakfast 
hour, one stiver; and for working through noon, two stivers per day. 

Extra provision is not to be given, except at the option of the laborers, in place 
of the money or in part of it. 

The boilemien, firemen, and magass carriers are to receive, for all days when 
the boiling is carried on until late hours, a maximum pay of twenty (20) cents 
per day. No bargaining for extra pay by the hour is permitted. 

Laborers working such extra hours only by turns are not to have additional 
payment. 

Para. 11. Tradesmen on estates are considered as engaged to perform the same 
work as hitherto usual — assisting in the field, carting, potting sugar, &c. They 
shall be rated as first, second, and third-class laborers, according to their profi- 
ciency. Where no definite terms have been agreed on previously, the wages of 
first class tradesmen, having full work in their trade, are to be twenty (20) cents 
per day. Any existing contract with tradesmen is to continue until October 
next. 

No tradesman is allowed to keep apprentices without the consent of the owner 
of the estate. Such apprentices to be bound for no less period than three years, 
and not to be removed without the permission of the magistrate. 

Para. 12. No laborer is obliged to work for others on Saturdays; but if they 
choose to work for hire, it is proper that they should give their own estate the 
preference. For a full day's work on Saturday there shall not be asked for nor 
given more than twenty (20) cents to a first-class laborer ; thirteen (13) cents to a 
second-class laborer; seven (7) cents to a third-class laborer. 

Work on Saturday may, however, be ordered by the magistrate as a punish- 
ment to the laborer for having absented himself from work during the week for 



14 

one whole day or more, and for having been idle during the week; and then thi 
laborer shall not receive more than his usual pay for a common day's work. 

Para. 13. All the male laborers, ti'adesmen included, above 18 years of age, 
working on an estate, are bound to take the usual night watch by turns, but 
only once in ten days. Notice to be given ]>efore noon to break off" from work 
in the afternoon with the nurses, and to come to work next day at 8 o'clock. 
The watch to be delivered in the ixsual manner by nightfall and by sunrise. 

The above rule shall not be compulsory except Avhere voluntary watchmen 
cannot be obtained at a hire the planters may be willing to give to save the 
time lost by employing their ordinary laborers as watchmen. 

Likewise the male laborers are bound once a montlv on Sundays and holidays, 
to take the day watch about the yard, and to act as pasture men, on receiving 
their usual pay for a week-day's work. This rule applies also to the crook- 
boys. 

All orders about the watches to be duly entered in the day-book of the estate. 

Should a laborer, having been duly warned to take the watch, not attend, 
another laborer is to be hired in the place of the absentee and at his expense, not, 
however, to exceed fifteen cents. The person who wilfully leaves the watch or 
neglects it, is to be reported to the magistrate, and punished as the case merits. 

Para. 14. Laborers wilfully abstaining from work on a Avorking day are to 
forfeit their wages for the day, and will have to pay, over and above the forfeit, 
a fine which can be lawfully deducted in their wages, of seven (7) cents for a 
first-class laborer, five (5) cents for a second-class laborer, and two (2) cents for 
a third-class laborer. 

In crop, on grinding days, when employed about the works, in cutting canes, 
or in crook, an additional punishment will be awarded for wilful absence and 
neglect, by the magistrate, on complaint being made. 

Laborers abstaining from work for half a day, or breaking off" from work be- 
fore being dismissed, to forfeit their wages for one day. 

Laborers not coming to work in due time to forfeit half a day's wages. 

Parents keeping their children from work shall be fined instead of the children. 

No charge of house rent is to be made in future on account of absence from 
work, or for the Satiu'day. 

Para. 15. Laborers wilfully abstaining from work for two or more days 
during the week, or habitually absenting themselves, or working badly and 
lazily, shall be punished as the case merits, on complaint to the magistrate. 

Para. 16. Laborers assaulting any person in authority on the estate, or plan- 
ning or conspiring to retard or to stop the work of the estate, or uniting to ab- 
stain from work, or to break their engagements, shall be punished according to 
law, on investigation before a magistrate. 

Para. 17. Until measures can be adopted for securing medical attendance to 
the laborers, and for regulating the treatment of the sick and the infirm, it is 
ordered : 

That infirm persons, imfit for any work, shall, as hitherto, be maintained on 
the estates where they are domiciled, and be attended to by their next relations. 

That parents or children of such infirm persons shall not remove from the 
estate, leaving them behind, without making provision for them to the satisfac- 
tion of the owner or of the magistrate. 

That laborers, unable to attend to work on account of illness, or on account 
of having sick children, shall make a report to the manager, or any other person 
in authority on the estate, who, if the case appears dangerous and the sick person 
destitute, shall cause medical assistance to be given. 

That all sick laborers willing to remain in the hospital during their illness, 
shall there be attended to at the cost of the estate. 

Para. 18. If a laborer reported sick shall be at any time found absent from 
the estate without leave, or is trespassing about the estate, or found occupied 



15 

Avith work requiriug health, he ghall be considered skulking and wilfully absent 
from work. 

When a laborer pretends illness, and is not apparently sick, it shall be his 
duty to prove his illness by medical certificate. 

Para. 19. Pregnant women shall be at liberty to work with the small gang, 
as customary, and when confined not to be called on to work for seven weeks 
after their confinement. 

Young children shall be fed and attended to during the hours of work at some 
proper place, at the cost of the estate. 

Nobody is allowed to stay from work on pretence of attending a sick person, 
except the wife and the mother, in dangerous cases of illness. 

Para. 20. It is the duty of the managers to report to the police any conta- 
gious or suspicious cases of illness and death, especially when gross neglect is 
believed to have taken place, or when children have been neglected by their 
mothers, in order that the guilty person may be punished according to law. 

Para. 21. The driver or foreman on the estate is to receive in wages four and 
a half dollars monthly, if no other terms have been agreed on. The driver may 
be dismissed at any time during the year, with the consent of the magistrate. 
It is the duty of the driAa^r to see the work duly performed, to maintain order 
and peace on the estate during the Avork and at other times, and to preA^ent and 
report all offences committed. Should any laborer insult or use insulting lan- 
guage towards him during or on accoiint of the performance of his diities, such 
person is to be punished according to laAv. 

Para. 22. No laborer is alloAved, without the special permission of the OAvner 
or manager, to appropriate wood, grass, A^egetables, fruits, or the like, belonging 
to the estate, nor to appropriate such produce trom other estates, nor to cut canes, 
or to burn charcoal. Persons making themseh'es guilty of siich offences shall 
be punished, according to law, with lines or imprisonment with hard labor ; and 
the possession of such articles, not satisfactorily accounted for, shall l)e sufficient 
e\idence of unlaAvful acquisition. 

Para. 23. All agreements conti'ary to the aboA*e rules are to be null and A^oid, 
and owners and managers of estates couA'icted of any practice tending Avilfully 
to counteract or aA^oid these rules, by direct or indirect means, shall be subject 
to a fine not exceeding tAvo hundred dollars. 

P. HANSEN. 

Government House, 

Sf. Croix, January 26, 1849. 



Colonel Raasloff to Mr. Seward. 

Danish Legation, 
Washington, Maij 26, 1862. 

Sir: I had the honor, in my note of April 23 last, to inform you that I Avas 
prepared to negotiate and to sign a special convention for the emigration of fi-ee 
negroes from this country to the Danish West India island of St. Croix, and beg 
leaA'e noAv to add that I am likcAvise prepared to negotiate and to conclude a 
special conA^ention for the transfer to that island of Africans Avho may hereafter 
be found on board of slavers captured by cruisers of the United States. The 
terms Avhich, as stated in my aboA'e-mentioned note, I am authorized to offer 
to free negroes emigrating from this country to St. Croix Avould likewise, at 
least essentially, and as a basis for the proposed negotiation, be applicable to 
captured Africans, AAdth the exception only that these latter Avould haA'e to 
serve an apprenticeship of a certain number of, say, five, years, as third and 
second class laborers on a sugar plantation, during which time, however, they 



16 

Avould, in every other respect, be treated entirely the same as the native free 
rural population. I shall, for the better understanding of this proposition, beg 
leave to refer to the memorandum which accompanied my note of April 23 
last, in which I described the condition of that population, and from which, 
as well as from the provincial act of July 26, 1849, a printed copy of which 
was annexed to that memorandum, it will be seen that laborers in St. Croix 
are, in regard to pay, divided into three classes, according to the amount and 
quality of labor which they are able to perform. The captured African, who 
generally is almost a savage, entirely unaccustomed to and unacquainted Avith 
regular agricultural labor, would therefore quite naturally and justly have to 
pass through the lower classes, and not become entitled to form part of the first 
class, whicli involves the highest pay, before having acquired the knowledge, 
ability, and physical strength and endurance of which full-grown men of the 
native free population of the island are generally possessed. The Danish laws, 
by which the condition of that population has been regulated, and by which a 
happy existence has been secured to them, would thus, as you will perceive, be 
directly and justly applicable to the captured Africans, and be eminently proper, 
gradually and surely to prepare them for a rational enjoyment of entire freedom ; 
every means for their instruction in the Christian religion and for the schooling 
of their children being also amply provided for; besides, the process of educa- 
tion and improvement would be greatly facilitated by their being made to live 
with an excellent and highly civilized colored population, and under the special 
protection of public authorities and magistrates appointed by the crown. I feel 
satisfied, therefore, that no other tropical country could offer, through its laws 
and the organization of its society, the same guarantees for the happiness and 
gradual civilization of the African who should be brought thither after having 
been rescued from the hold of a slaver, as those which I have above enumerated, 
and that the arrangement whicli I have the honor of proposing for the transfer 
of those people to this island of St. Croix would be entirely satisfactory from a 
Christian and a humane point of view, and would moreover relieve the United 
States from a great moral responsibility and from the very large expense which, 
if I am correctly informed, is connected with the present arrangement for the 
transfer of captured Africans to the territory of the republic of Liberia. 

I avail myself of this occasion to offer you, sir, renewed assurances of my 
very high consideration. 

W. RAASLOFP. 

Hon. WilliajM H. Seward, 

Seeretary of State of the United States, Washington, D. C. 



SURINAM. 

The communication of the minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Roest Van Lam- 
burg, in behalf of his government, inquiring " whether the United States gov- 
ernment will be disposed to co-operate with the government of the Netherlands 
in the transportation of free colored laborers from the United States to the 
Netherland colony of Surinam." 

" The government of the King would desire them to engage, for a certain 
number of years, (five years, for example,) their labor to a planter, under the 
protection of the Netherland laws, and with some advantages attached to their 
immigration into a country so fertile and so extended as is the above men- 
tioned." 

The general aspect of this country is that of British Guiana. It has an area 
of 60,000 square miles. The Surinam is the principal river, with a rich and 
fertile soil highly cultivated, producing coffee, cotton, and sugar. 



17 

The population of this country consists of 54,000 negroes, and about six or 
seven thousand white ])ersons. Such is the preponderance of colored popula- 
tion in all those countries in South America over whites. 

BRITISH GUIANA. 

The proposition of Hon. W Walker, government secretary of the British 

colony of Guiana. 

To this proposition we attach importance, as the first official expression of the 
disposition of English authorities to kindly consider our embarrassments as a 
republican people. 

Mr. Walker came to the United States expressly to form some plan of aiding 
the emigration of persons of color to the colony of whose government he is a 
member. He filed his instructions in this office, appointed an agent of emigra- 
tion in the city of New York, and presents the following proposition in a letter 
to me, which, from the general interest now taken in South America, I will give 
at length : 

New York, October 13, 1862. 

Sir : On the eve of my return to British Guiana, I am induced by the interest 
you have manifested in the subject of the mission with which I have been in- 
trusted, namely, to endeavor to arrange for the immigration of freed negroes into 
that rising and important tropical country, to place before you the views of the 
government, of which I am an officer, and the inducements which the colony 
offers to the settlement of persons of the African race accustomed to agricultural 
labor. 

This fine and fertile province, which has now been in the undisturbed posses- 
sion of the British for about sixty years, lies on the northeastern shore of South 
America, and consequently enjoys the benefit of the steady trade-wind from that 
quarter, which, with the natural humidity of the atmosphere, tempers the heat 
and renders the temperature equable throughout the year. It has an extent of 
sea-coast of about 280 miles, with an almost unlimited depth towards the interior, 
is watered by magnificent rivers and smaller streams. 

The productiveness of its soil is unsurpassed, and it possesses inexhaustible 
forests of the finest wood, of which the export is annually increasing. At pre- 
sent its only cultivated staple is sugar, cotton and coftee having been abandoned 
Avholly from the deficient supply of lal)or. The cotton of this colony ranks, 
probably, next to sea island, in length and fineness of staple, some wild samples 
having been valued by Liverpool brokers a few months ago at 60 cents per pound. 

The cultivation of the sugar-cane and manufixcture of sugars are and have for 
many years been chiefly dependent on imported labor, partly captured Africans, 
partly natives of Madeira, but chiefly from India and (latterly) China. 

The Creole, or native peasantry of African stock, are so independent that they 
will only work when they and at what they please, and for sixch wages as they 
choose to demand. When I left, in August, they were earning, men 72 cents, 
and women 48 cents per diem, and this Avas lower than before the markets at 
home were depressed in consequence of the war in these States. Boys and girls 
earn in proportion, or, rather, they receive as much as men and women formerly 
did. Now, the only labor which the planters can depend upon is that of the 
immigx-ants, who work under engagements, some for three, as the African and 
Portuguese ; others, as the Indian and Chinese, for five years ; and this is what 
makes them so valuable to the planter, so that he not only pays a large part 
of the expense of bringing them to the colony, but he provides them with 
houses and land for gardens, rent free, a hospital and doctor, under the inspection 
of the colonial government; but he pays them for the same quantity and quality 
of work the same money wages as the native laborer receives. 

2 c 



18 

All the work on estates is invariably done by task; one of wliicli is estimaterl 
to ocenpy nine hours. There is a written rule of 7J hours, but' the immigrant 
under engagement is only bound to perform five tasks, or forty-five hours' labor, 
in the Aveek ; he may work more if he pleases, and will, of coiirse, be paid in 
proportion. 

To show the ease with which property is acquired by industrious men, the 
captured Africans, in a few years, buy land for themselves, while the Indian, on 
his part, saves his money to take home. When I left, a ship was loading for 
Calcutta with about foiir hundred East India people, going home ; they had in 
money about $40,000, besides their gold and silver ornaments, which tliey wear 
about their persons. 

But the necessity for labor is so great that if the freed negroes who have been 
accustomed to work on the sugar, and cotton, and rice plantations, can be in- 
duced to settle there, we ask them to come under an engagement to work on 
some estate for three years, at the end of which we ofi'er the free gift of a piece 
of land for residence and cultivation, in addition to all the advantages I have 
above specified. But if the immigrant prefer it, he may break the engagement 
at the end of the first year, on paying two- thirds of the expense of bringing him 
to the colony, or at the end of the second on paying one-third in like manner. 
In this case, however, he will not be entitled to the free grant of land. 

But again, besides the enormous area of land never yet cultivated, there are 
large tracts of estates of which the cultivation has been abandoned, lying on the 
sea-coast and adjacent to existing cultivation. Now, if bodies of the freed 
negroes who do not Avish to come under engagements of service on the estates 
can be sent to the colony free of expense, the government is prepared to give 
them a cordial reception, and, on due notice being given, to place them in eligilde 
positions for providing for themselves — the actual cost of the land and houses 
being repayable by small annual instalments, extending over, say, five or seven 
years. For this purpose families would of course be preferred, so that they 
might settle down in village communities and be able to assist each other. 

So far as my own opinion is of any value, I am cjuite certain that the engage- 
ment system is the best for both parties to begin with, and that it might be 
beneficially extended, especially to laborers recently relieved from the restraints 
of slavery, to five years, liberty being ahvays reserved to them to buy the re- 
mainder of their five at the end of any year. 

It is so important for them to have a house and garden j)rovided for them, 
and a doctor and hospital in case of sickness, and to be under the direct super- 
vision of the government ofiicers until they arc in a position to take care of 
themselves, that I am sure I am consulting their true interests in recommending 
this. 

The labor laAvs of the colony are framed in a considerate spirit and upon 
equitable principles. A paid magistrate resides in each district, of which there 
are fifteen in the colony, whose special duty it is to receive and decide com- 
plaints between employer and laborer, master and servant. .Should his decision 
be unsatisfactory, an appeal lies to a judge of the supreme court, who sits every 
Saturday for that purpose ; and in an}- case resort may be had to the governor 
himself, who is always accessible- either personally or by petition, and who 
always, when apjilied to, inquires into the grounds of the magistrate's decision. 

With respect to the numbers of such laborers who would be received, it may 
be safely put down for the present at a minimum of 10,000 per annum, or, say, 
one thousand per month, assuming that the supply can be guaranteed as to num- 
bers and permanency, so as to enable the colonial government to discontinue its 
existing arrangements for the imjjortation of Asiatic laborers, which is a very 
important point. 

I do not consider that it enters into my promise to discuss the questions of 
policy with which this subject may be interAvoveu; but, assuming that the class 



19 

of laborers of African descent to wliich I have above more especially attended 
is at liberty, and is disposed to emigrate, I have no hesitation in declaring- my 
conviction that there is no interti'opical conntry in this hemisphere which offers 
greater advantages for their settlement than British Gniana; and I say this with- 
ont in the least desiring to nndervalne other localities, many of which in the 
West India Islands I am personally acquainted with. 

They would find the same language spoken; they would find churches, 
chapels, schools, ministers, and teachers ready, pi-ovided, and anxious to do them 
and their children good; and they would find not merely theoretically free in- 
stitutions, but a practical exposition of the principle that we do not regard a 
man's race or color of his skin as determining his social position, which depends 
upon his own conduct and character to establish and determine. 

I am not aware that I need add more to this sketch, but should there be any 
point omitted, or in respect to which you would desire fuller information, I beg 
you to be assured that it Avill afford me the greatest pleasure to supply what 
may be indicated as wanted. 
I remain vours, &c., 

W. WALKER. 

BRITISH HONDURAS. 

Whilst speaking of colonization on British territory, it may be well to state 
that a tract of country in British Honduras, consisting of one hundred and fifty 
square miles, has been brought to our notice by that able .advocate and friend 
of the colored man. Miss Anna Ella Carroll. The land is the property of a 
gentleman who proposed to sell it to the United States government for the sum 
of $75,000. The tract is bounded on one side by the sea, and has several im- 
proved jjlots upon it. 

As a number of persons have spoken of British Honduras as a place desiralde 
for the colored emigrant, permit me to quote the terms on Avhich foreigners may 
be naturalized in that country, as drawn from the laws of the country: 

"An act to declare the right and privilege of aliens within this settlement, and 
to facilitate their naturalization, passed tlie legislature February 7, 1855. Re- 
ceived the royal assent and proclaimed July 19, 1855. 

"Americans and other citizens wishing to reside in British Honduras, and 
desirous to be on equality with a British-born subject, can take out certificate 
of naturalization ; the full privilege is then granted by her Majesty's superin- 
tendent same as if British born." 

Foreigners can then become members of their colonial legislative body. 

I presume that colored men will find an open door in all tropical territories 
of Great Britain. 

During the last session of Congress a law was passed whereby the republics 
of Hayti and Liberia were recognized and admitted to diplomatic relations — an 
act of justice too long delayed. 

Both those nations are candidates for om- surplus colored population, and both 
need all the fresh blood engrafted on them this nation can spare. They are de 
farto colored nationalities, struggling to follow in the wake of the " great re- 
public." Both deserve our sympathy and material aid; and it is undoubtedly 
the will of this nation to render them, as separate nationalities, all the aid within 
our power. Well may we mourn the opportunities past, and we fear gone for- 
ever, when the nation saw the necessity, but heeded not, grudging the smallest 
pittance to such ol)jects, until now no longer does the swollen flood of wealth 
flow in the channels of peace, but, turned aside into those of war, our national 
substance is being wasted, and growing more shallow every month. But, to re- 
turn to the review of the colonization propositions before us, I rank Liberia 
next in order. 



20 



LIBERIA. 

This republic, through its president, S. A. Benson, whilst on a late visit to 
London, negotiated a commercial treaty with this country, through the agency 
of Mr. Adams, to whom Mr. Seward had intrusted this work for the accommo- 
dation of Mr. Benson. 

I learn from Mr. J. D. Johnson, the special commissioner for Liberia, that 
an additional treaty in regard to emigration is desired. He informs me that 
50,000,000 acres of land, under the jurisdiction of his country, have been set 
off for the use and benefit of colored emigrants from the United States, and that 
he is now expecting directions from his government as to the terms on which 
to negotiate an emigration treaty. 

I trust that Liberiau commerce will somehow be favoi-ed above all other 
foreign commerce, and that her productions will bring a premium in all our mar- 
kets. She is the creature of our own effort, and will be the monument of our 
liberality. Her organized advocates are scattered all over this country ; I 
congratulate them on this crowning triumph of their efforts, through the liber- 
ality and enlightened statesmanship of this administration. 

The New York Colonization Society, through its secretary, Rev. Dr. Biimey, 
lately appointed consul general of Liberia, proposes to carry emigrants to Li- 
beria, and support them six months for about S85 per capita. 

The American Colonization Society, through its financial secretary. Rev. 
Wm. McLain, proposes to cany emigrants and support them a like time for the 
sum of $100 per capita. As a matter of course, all the profits, if any should 
be made in the carrying trade, go into the general funds of the Coloniza- 
tion Society ; but it is claimed, and I presume justly claimed, that the work 
cannot be done for less. 

HAYTI. 

The claims of Hayti for recognition have at last been honored. Commercial 
relations, however, have not been fully established. The government thereof 
commissioned Col. Ernest Roumain a special commissioner of emigration to visit 
this country, and reorganize its office of emigration by appointing Mr. G. Law- 
rence their agent. His office is No. 55 Liberty street, New York. 

There is a proposition in the interest of Hayti now before the President. At 
his refjuest, I examined it and prepared the drafts of contracts and agreements, 
which are now being considered. 

It is proposed to select one of the islands of Hayti, and constitute it an indus- 
trial establishment, from which the main island can gradually draw enterprising, 
skilled, and moral citizens, acclimated and ready to take useful positions in the 
republic. 

Bernard Kock, the gentleman A\'ho makes this proposition, is a practical busi- 
ness man. 

In a letter to the President he thus describes the island: 

"The most beautiful, healthy, and fertile of all the islands belonging to the 
republic of Hayti is the island of A'Vache, which is about twelve miles from the 
city of Aux Oayes. It covers an area of about a hundred square miles, is known 
to "be free from reptiles, and to have a health}- and agreeable temperature, the 
thermometer rising rarely above 80° in the shade, in consequence of its exposure 
to the trade-winds. The interior of the island is hilly, in some places rising as 
high as three hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is well timbered with 
mahogany, oak, hard, and dye woods, while in the neighborhood of the coast it 
is mostly prairie land, and ready for the plough. As would be expected in a 
country like this, the soil and climate are adapted for all tropical productions, 
particularly sugar, coffee, indigo, and, more especially, cotton, which is indige- 



21 

nous. Upon the north pide of the island is the beautiful bay of Ferret, with 
an average depth of twenty-eight feet, iipon whose bosom a largo fleet could 
repose in safety, secure from the storms of the ocean ; and here it is proposed to 
erect a commercial city, with all the conveniences necessary to such an enterprise. 

" Before the revolution which gave St. Domingo to the colored race, a portion 
of this island was cultivated by the Duke of Praslin, to . whom it belonged by 
right of concession, but the French were driven from it, and for nearly a hun- 
dred years it has been a solitary waste, awaiting the hand of industry to awaken 
its echoes. 

" Attracted by its beauty, the value of its thnber, its extreme fertility, and its 
adaptation for the cultivation of cotton, I prevailed upon President Geffrard to 
concede the island to me for twenty years, the documentary evidence of which 
has been lodged with the Secretary of the Interior." 

By the terms of the deed of concessio;i, Mr. Kock has the exclusive right to 
cut timber for commercial purjjoses by paying a part of the amount cut. The 
government gives him the free iise of the soil cultivated for the subsistence of 
his colony, while it charges a small sum per acre for all that may be used for 
cultivating "colonial productions" for the market, such as cotton, coflfee, &c. 
The rent for the cultivation of these articles is not set forth in the contract, b\it 
by letter of the 8th instant, in answer to my objections on this point, he informs 
me that the rent has been agreed on. He says : " The rent which I shall have 
to pay for this selected land is, according to law, five (5) Haytian dollars for 
one carreau of three and one-third American acres, to be paid at the end of each 
year." This explanation makes his contract perfect. We have been informed 
that the Haytian government grants a premium on the production of cotton 
that Avill go far to discharge this rent. 

He has obligated himself to commence the cultivation of the island on or 
before the 8th of February, 1863. There are two crops in the year on those 
islands. 

He wishes to begin with such a number of families as will make about one 
thousand persons — men, women, and children — to be gradually increased to 
about five thousand persons. 

He will give each family a comfortably furnished house, with a garden spot 
attached, and, without extra charge to them, supply all their provisions, provide 
a hospital and medical attendance, a church, and school-house, ■with a New 
England Christian minister and New England school-teachers. With each 
family he will make a contract for four years, and will pay them more liberal 
wages than is now |>aid in any of the West India islands. And, besides this, 
he has further obligated himself annually to divide amongst the colonists, ac- 
cording to the amount of labor performed by each one, ten per cent, of the net. 
proceeds of their combined toil and industry, thus making each operative a joint 
stock proprietor with himself, and henc(' stimulating them to increased exertion 
by the same prospect of a rich reward. I am free to coiifess that I demanded 
more for them of the net profits than ten per cent., but Mr. Kock has promised, 
should crops be abundant and market good, to distribute prizes on the first of 
January each year to such as have proved themselves worthy. 

At the expiration of the time for which these persons arc employed, the 
government of Hayti, by a special law, will give to each family sixteen acres 
of good land, and to each single person eight acres, and, by express provision 
in the deed of concession, at the expiration of the time the whole island of 
A'Vache, with its cultivated portions, will thus be divided amongst those whose 
labor and enterprise have redeemed it from waste and desolation, and we may 
add that the commerce of the island, if any should spring up, will flow into the 
hands of the new possessors. 

For the fulfilment of those terms and conditions, Mr. Kock proposes placing 
his effects and property on this island under mortgage, in a penal sum to be 



22 

fixed by the President, and to entertain an agent of this^ government free of 
expent^e. 

A draft of propri.sed local regulations has l)een submitted, and it is all that 
the best of men could ask. The insular position of the colony secures full 
scope to those regulations, and enables the controllers of society to preserve 
order. A respect for the Sabbath, temperance, the attendance of the children at 
school until they have completed their thirteenth year, are all retjuired. 

The following are the laws of the republic relating to emigration and the natu- 
ralization of the emigrant, with an introdiictory appeal of one of their state 
officers : 

■" Cull for emigration. 

" ^len of our race dispersed in the United States ! Your fate, your social posi 
tion, instead of ameliorating, daily becomes worse. The chains of those who 
are slaves are rivetted; and prejudice, more implacable, perhaps, than servitude, 
pursues and crushes down the free. Everything is contested with us in that 
country in which, nevertheless, they boast of liberty; they have invented a neAv 
slavery for the free, who believed that they had now no masters ; it is this hu- 
miliating patronage which is revolting to your hearts. Philanthropy, in spite of 
its nobh,' efforts, seems more powerless than ever to lead your cause to victory. 
Contempt and hatred increase against you, and the people of the United States 
desire to eject you from its bosom. 

" Come, then, to us! The doors of Hayti are open to you. By hapjiy coinci- 
dence, which Providence seems to have brought about in your behalf, Hayti has 
risen from the long debasement in which a tyrannical government had held her; 
liberty is restored there. Come and join us; come and bring to us a contingent 
of power, of light, of labor; come, and, together with us, advance our own com- 
mon country in prosperity. We will come by this means to the aid of the 
philanthropists who make such generous efforts to break the chains of those of 
our brethren who are still in slavery. 

" Our institutions are liberal. The government is mild and moderate. Our 
soil is virgin and rich; we have large tracts of good land, nearly all unculti- 
vated, which only need intelligent workmen to till them. Everything assures 
you in this country of a happy future. For those among you who possess 
capital, it Avill be easy to find at once a place among us. The country offers 
them immediate resources. They can count on the sohcitude of the govern- 
ment, and on its special protection. Our society is ready to adopt them, and 
prepares for them a fraternal welcome. They will enjoy liere all the considera- 
tions that they merit ; they will occupy the rank that their respectability assigns 
them — all the things that a blind and barbarous prejudice refuses to them in 
countries inhospitable to our race. 

" The poorer emigrants shall have die right to all that their situation demands. 
The government will provide for their first necessities, and will take the proper 
measures to secure to them a qiiiet and honorable asylum, as well as to facilitate 
for them the means of obtaining employment. • 

" It is very natural that you should ask before coming to an unknown country, 
what are the facilities that w^ill Ik; afforded to you, as well for the satisfaction of 
your first needs, as for your definitive settlement. This thought has seriously 
occupied the chief of the republic and his government. 

" I proceed to state the determination to Avhich it has come : 

"To such of you as are not able to pay the expenses of your passage, aid will 
be given from the jmblic treasury. 

"Agents, whom I shall presently appoint in the United States, will be charged 
to make the necessary arrangements in this respect. 

" On their arrival here the emigrants will find lodging gratuitously, where, 
during the first few days, their needs will be provided for. 



23 

" CTOvernment ■will occupy itsolf from this time with providing means to offer 
to each person, on arrival, either on private estates or the public domains, suffi- 
ciently reminierative "work. 

" Every individual, the issi;e of African blood, may, immediately on arrival, 
declare his Avish to be naturalized ; and after one year's residence he can become 
a citizen of Hayti, enjoying all his civil and political rights. 

" The emigrants will be exempt from military service, but their children, when 
they are of the requisite age, shall be held to perform the service conformably 
to the laws of the country; that is to say, for a limited time, and by the result 
of conscription. [Par suite du tirage au sort.) This conscription does not con- 
stitute, in their favor, a modification of the law on the national guard, of which 
every citizen must form a part. 

" You will have power also freely to exercise your religion. 

" I have spoken here only of the members of the African race Avho groan in 
the United States more than elsewhere, Ijy reason of the ignoble prejudice of 
color; but our sympathies are equally extended to all those of our origin who, 
throughout the Avorld, are bowed down under the Aveight of the same sutferings. 
Let them come to us ! The bosom of the country is open to them also. I re- 
peat it, they will be able to acquire, either on the public or private estates, fertile 
lands, where, by the aid of assiduous labor, they will find that happiness which 
in their actual condition they cannot hope to find. 

" The man whom God has pointed out with his finger to elevate the dignity 
of his race is found ! The hour of the reunion of the children of Hayti is 
sounded ! Let them be well convinced that Hayti is the bulwark of their liberty ! 

" Given at the office of the secretary of state of the interior, at l*ort au Prhice, 
the 22d of August, 1859, fifty-sixth year of independence. 

" The secretary of state of justice and of worship, charged, ^-(rt?- interim, Avith 
the portfolio of the interior and of agriculture. 

"F. E. DUBOIS." 

'' Lmci- of emigration. 

■I. — Laws (lu the emigration into the country of persons of the African and 

Indian races. 

" Eabre Geft'rard, president of Hayti, by the advice of the council of the sec- 
retaries of state and the legislative bodies, after having considered and declared 
the urgency of it, has rendered the following laAv : 

" Article. 1. After the promulgation of the present laAv, five carreaux of land 
will be granted, free of all charge, to every family of laborers or cultivators of 
the African or Indian races who shall arrive in the republic. This grant Avill 
be reduced two carreaux Avhon the laborer or cultivator is unmarried. 

•'Art. 2. These grants Avill be deliA-ered AAithout expense, and Avith a pro- 
visional title, to e\'ery family that shall have made before the proper magistrate 
the declaration prescribed by laAv Avith the vicAv of obtaining naturalization, and 
they will be converted into final grants after a residence of a year and a day in 
the country. 

"Art. 3. The final grants Avill be giA'en in exchange for the provisional grants 
only Avhen it shall have been ascertained by the government agents that culti- 
Aation has already commenced on the property granted. 

"Art. 4. The grantee shall not ha at poAver to dispose of his grant before the 
expiration of seA'en consecutive years of occupation. Nevertheless, he will be 
able to obtain the authority to exchange his grant for another property, but only 
on the conditions, terms, and Avith the poAvers aboA'e named. 

"The present laAv shall be promptly executed by the secretary of state of the 
interior and of au'riculture. 



24 

" Given at the national honse of Port au Prince, the 7th of September, year 
fifty-seventh of independence. 

"F. LACEL'Z, 

" The President of the Senate. 
" CELA8TIN, 
"J. Y. MENDOZA, 

''The Secretaries. 

" Given at the chamber of representatives of Port au Prince, tlie 5th Septem- 
ber, 1860, year fifty-seventh of independence. 

"W. CHANLATTE, 

"The Preside/ft of the Chamber. 
"J. THEBAUD, 
"F. PvICHIEZ, 

''The Secretaries. 

" In the name of the republic, the president of Hayti ordains that the fore- 
going law of the legislative bodies be stamped with the seal of the republic, 
published, and executed. 

" Given at the national palace of Port au Prince, the 6th September, I860,, 
year fifty-seventh of independence. 
" By the President : 

" GEFFRARD. 
" F. JN. JOSEPH, 
''The Secretary of State of the Interior and of Agriculture. 

"T. DEJOIE, 
" The Secretary of War and the Marine. 
" JH. LAMOTHE, 
"The Keeper of the Seals, Secretary of State of the General Police. 

" F. E. DUBOIS, 
"The Secretary of State of Justice, ^j. 
"VN. PLESANCE, 
"The Secretary of State of Finances, Commerce, and Exterior Relations.'" 

"II. — Laws on the naturalization of emigrants of the African and Indian races.. 

" Fabre Geffrard, on the report of the secretary of state of justice, and by 
the advice of the council of the secretaries of state, considering that prompt 
action is demanded in behalf of those who possess the required qualifications to 
become Haytians, in order to enable them with facility to enter into the imme- 
diate enjoyment of the right attached to naturalization, proposes the following- 
law : 

"Article 1. Article 14 of the civil code is modified as follows : All those 
who by virttie of the constitution are able to acquire the rights of Haytian citi- 
zens, must, during the first month of their arrival in the country, before the 
justice of the peace of their residence, and in presence of two well-known citi- 
zens, make a declaration to the eff'ect that they come with the intention of set- 
tling in the republic. They will at the same time, before the justice of the peace, 
take oath that they renounce every other country save Hayti. 

"Art. 2. Provided with the verbal process of the justice of the peace, setting 
forth the declaration that they come to settle in the republic, and their taking 
of the oath, they will present themselves at the ofiices of the president of Hayti, 
to receive an act from the chief of the state recognizing them citizens of the 
republic. 

" Art. 3. The present law annuls all laAvs or measures which are contrary to- 
it, and shall be executed with despatch by the secretary of state for justice. 



25 

*' Given at the national palace, at Port an Prince, the 27th day of Angust, 
1860, the fifty-seventh year of independence. 

" GEFFRARD." 

(Then follow the siignatures of varions officials, as in the previous law. Both 
of these laAvs were iinanimonsly passed throngh both branches of the legislature.) 

CHIRIUUI. 

The proposition of Mr. A. W. Thomjison to colonize that portion of Chiriqui 
in the republic of New Granada, or United States of Colombia, as it is now 
called, which he claims under certain deeds and grants from the authorities of 
that country, containing about 2,000,000 acres, more or less, and stretching 
from sea to sea, including on the northeast side the important harbor of the 
Chiriqui lagoon. On his proposition a contract was closed with him on the 
12th of September ultimo, containing the following provisions : 

It provides that the Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, as special agent of the government, 
acting as such without compensation, shall examine the titles of said Thomp- 
son, the location of the lands and adaptation for purposes of settlement. If all 
this " be found correct by said Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, who is to be the judge 
thereof, then the said Pomeroy is hereby authorized, on behalf of the United 
States, to order a contract for such works, improvements, and sites as are 
hereinafter set forth." 

The agricultural lands within the said grants shall be open to all colored 
emigrants from the United States, and be conveyed to them in fee simple in 
quantities as follows : For each male adult, unmarried, 20 acres ; for each head 
of a family of five persons and under, 40 acres ; and for each head of a family 
of more than five persons, SO acres. The lands to be surveyed at the expense 
of Thompson, but the money therefor advanced by the United States not to 
exceed at one time more than $10,000. They are to be conveyed to emigrants 
by the Secretary of the Interior and the officers of the (colonization) depart- 
ment, who are to be empowered with a perpetual power by said Thompson to 
convey to emigrants as above, Thompson reserving the right to convey, as 
above, to coloi*ed men. Thompson reserves all coal and minerals on said lands 
thus granted, and all town sites to be laid off by him, the right of way for all 
roads of every description, with the right to enter on said lands for timber and 
stone to construct and maintain the road. The United States to pay $1 per 
acre for the lands allotted until one hundred thousand acres have been allotted, 
30 per cent, to go to Thompson, and 70 per cent, to necessary improvements, 
such as roads, Avharves, ifcc. 

So soon as Senator Pomeroy pronounces the site eligible for colonization, 
&c., the United States are to advance $50,000 to Thompson to open coal and 
other mines, to be repaid in coal delivered at the harbor ; the emigration to be 
carried on by Senator Pomeroy or some one appointed by the President. Mr. 
Thompson and family, artisans, surveyors, and laborers are privileged to voyage 
free in the emigrant vessels, he providing the necessary commissary stores for 
them ; the number to be restricted to fifteen persons for each voyage. 

The vessels to be employed by said Thompson to be at the service of the 
governments of the United States of Colombia or the United States of America, 
to enable them to maintain order in the Isthmus of Chiriqui, for which they 
will pay reasonable rates of compensation ; the wharves to be free of charge to 
those two powers ; Mr. Thompson to be responsible for the conduct of the 
people of color he receives on his lands. 

The execution of this contract was committed to Senator Pomeroy as a special 
agent, and the sum of $25,000 placed in his hands to enable him to proceed. 
Of this transaction, so f;ir as its terms and documentary matter are concerned. 



26 

we remained in ig-norance up to the 12tli of this mouth, when the papers of the 
case first came to hand, so that we can tell but little of the progress made. 

It has been our desire from the time that this locality was first brought to our 
notice to see a settlement of colored men planted on the lands of Chiriqui, which 
contains one of the most desirable harbors on the northeastern shore of the 
isthmus; but the conflict of title and jurisdiction lately disclosed between the 
States of Costa Rica and New Granada has caused the State Department to 
injoin further progress until those tu-o states permit the settlement at that point. 
The state of New Granada, or the United States of Colombia, as the country 
is now called, desires our colored emigrants, and will receive them on equal 
terms of citizenship with its native population. I have been informed by letter 
of the 15th of October, Avritten by a gentleman in the interest of the existing 
government of that country, that other portions of that coiintry are open as well 
as the lands of Chiriqui. He writes : " I learn that besides Cauca," (a province 
previously recommended,) " that the valley of the Magdalena is open to the 
colored emigrants ; but, above all, the great river Atrata, which has an 
Atlantic port and is on the regular route of trade from New York to the "West 
Indies. This is a stream large enough to float frigates seventy miles from its 
mouth, passing through a gold country. * * It is the great link in 
the Pacific ship canal so long talked about. It has a town at its head and a port 
at its mouth. It has a good ti-ade with the West Indies, and is within a few 
days' steam of New York." This magnificent country is thrown open to the 
colored man, A\'here wealth, liberty, and usefuluess await him. 

ECUADOR. 

As pertinent to this section of South America just noted above, I will submit 
an abstract of a communication from a senator of Ecuador, addressed to me, offering 
to sell large tracts of country therein. The paper is valuable as a descriptive 
document, and its points may attract the eye of our colored people. I will state 
that it is not proposed to locate colonies on the western coast of South America, 
but that is no reason why the more enterprising of our colored people may not 
work their way over to that inviting country. I believe Senator Mala is the first 
Spanish landholder of large means that opens the door to them in South America. 

Senator Mala "is the proprietor of a tract of territory on the shores of the 
river Suya, which empties into the Gulf of Giiayaquil. Temperature, 27^ Reau- 
mur, producing cocoa, cotton, coffee, sugar-cane, rice, &:c.; also abounding in 
timber of a valuable quality for building," &c. 

He offers this pi'operty for the location of a colony, (price not stated,) but sug- 
gests that the payments be made in ten annual instalments. He offers to donate 
100 acres of land in the centre of the tract, on Avhich to found a tOAvn. 

He states "that the fertility of the soil is as great as that on the banks of the 
Nile. An acre will produce 500 pounds of cotton, the plant being not an annual 
but perpetual shrub, growing from ten to twelve feet high ; that one pound of 
rice will produce two hundred pounds. 

"No epidemic or pestilential diseases of any kind are known on the Suya, nor 
is the existence of yellow fever, black vomit, cholera morbus, nor any of the 
pestilences of the Levant known. As regards intermittent fever and fever and 
ague, it is well known those diseases are not contracted by the African race. 

" Slavery has been abolished in Ecuador : men of color live on equality with 
the whites. The laws are favorable to emigrants : new colonists are exempted 
from tax for a period of ten years. They can organize themselves as they Avish 
in their municipal systems, and elect their own authorities." 

After discussing the social questions at issue hi this AA'ar of sections, the 
senator further remarks, as descriptiA'e, in regard to colonists : 

" That if located cni the Suya, rlicy could euijiloy tlu-mseh-es in cutting timber, 



27 

which is very valuable at Guayaquil, and from whence it is exported in large 
quantities to Peru ; whilst they could gather of the valuable gums and rosins 
an abiiudance in the forests of the country." 

After the colonization of the Suya, he offers 1 00,000 acres on the fertile 
coasts of the province of Esmeraldas, (Ecuador,) or from one to two million 
acres on the shores of the Santiago, Pastora, and Napo, tributary rivers of the 
Amazon. 

He desires to lend his services to the unfortunate negro race, and is certain of 
success by making them landed proprietors in his country, where they can help 
themselves and add to the cotton industry of the world. 

I will close this abstract by giving the literal translation of the last paragraph 
of his letter : 

" The government of the United States should give the preference to Ecuador 
in this project. This country is destined to found a vast commerce with the 
United States — the country of cereal productions and industry. By centupli- 
cating the population of Ecuador by the importation of African blood on its 
ardent coasts, and in constructing a national road, a mercantile movement of 
great magnitude would be developed between the two countries. 

" The vegetable riches which the coasts of Ecuador abound in are at present 
unknoAvn treasures to the scientific and industrial world. A current of emigra- 
tion from North America Avould be a second voyage of Columbus, for it is clear 
that no other means but the mercantile navy of the United States Avould be 
used to i-eceive and transport the productions of the American negro colony, or 
to provide them with clothes and other necessarv articles. 

" BEXIGNA MALA, Semtorr 
t 

( 0.\TRABA.\D8 AND FREEDME\. 

Before closing this report I would call attention to the tens of thousands of 
freedmen cast on the coimtry by the condition of ^'ar, and respectfully ask the 
power to come to the relief of such as may wish to remove out of the country. 
Those people are unsettled and in a wandering condition. Strangers to the peo- 
ple of the north, and fearing the people of the south, they want a secm'e and 
permanent home, far removed from danger and the prejudice of caste. The 
question that the practical man asks is. Where shall such a home be found ? 
I have stated the above propositions and plans in answer to this ; but how to 
effectually relieve by prompt aid is the next question. 

In answer to this I will venture the suggestion : Let the government em- 
power this office to extend aid to all the parties who can present clear evidence 
of their benevolent intentions to aid the freedman, or man of color, to a secure 
and quiet home within the tropical belt, whether on this hemisphere or on the 
eastern hemisphere. If he selects a home within the temperate zone, give him 
the liberty to settle there; but if, as a nation, Ave are so impoverished by this 
A\ar as to have but one gift to give, I hope we will be pardoned for so far fol- 
lowing the convictions of our own judgment as the majority race, and that 
which has the most at stake within the temperate zone, when we claim that our 
larger and direct appropriations of money shoiild be made to give permanency 
and nationality to our colored settlements within the tropical belt. 

I am in receipt of several communications relating to the propriety of includ- 
ing the free colored people of the whole country in the benefits of the national 
appropriations for colonization purposes. Our files are burdened with letters from 
the colored men themselves on this subject. Will not Congress extend these 
benefits to them? for it should not be forgotten that the law, as it now stands, 
strictly confines its benefits to the free peojile of tliis District and that class of 
persons who sliall be made free, or have been made free, by the condition of 
war. 



28 



THE OFFICE OF EMKiRATlOX OR COLOMZATIOK. 

The office or bureau of emigration must needs be a permanent matter, taking 
cognizance of all African colonial interests, not only those in Central America, 
but in Africa and the West Indies. 80 constituted, it must needs be the only 
legal and responsible office to which the legislative department can refer, or on 
which it can properly call for information in regard to the disposition of the 
funds appropriated from time to time. 

Therefore, in my opinion, a set of account books should be kept in this office 
or department, under the supervision of the head thereof, showing the exact ex- 
penditure and disbursement of all funds appropriated in aid of negro coloniza- 
tion ; and that those books may be reliable, each draft or warrant on said fund 
should be coiintersigned by the head of this office, and the amomit and object 
entered in said books, of which a balance sheet should form part of the annual 
report. 

I hope I shall be pardoned for thus pleading for circumspection ; but coloniza- 
tion is a new work, and has many enemies who watch with care all the move- 
ments of its friends. They are but too happy to discover neglect in the manage- 
ment of its funds ; therefore, on the very threshold of the enterprise, let us set 
a guard upon its reputation, or our future movements may be embarrassed. 

SECRETARY SEWARD'S CIRCULAR. 

Before closing this report it is proper to state that the following letter of 
Secretary Seward, addressed to Mr. Adams on the 30th of September ultimo, 
lately published in the correspondence of the State Department, must be re- 
garded as the general outline of the plan and policy of the administration on 
this important subject : 

" Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. 

" September 30, 1862. 

" Some foreign governments situated within the tropics, and others having 
colonies or dependencies there, have intimated to the President a desire to receive 
siTch accessions to their population, upon conditions favorable to the welfare, 
prosperity, and happiness of the emigrants. 

" In view of these facts, the President has aiithorized me to enter into nego- 
tiations upon the subject with the government of Great Britain, if it shall be 
inclined to such a course. 

" It is not within the purpose, of this communication to present the proj(^ct of 
a convention, but simply to state some of the general principles which this gov- 
ernment supposes proper to be recognized in any treaties which may be con- 
tracted with reference to the objects which I have presented. 

" First. That all emigration of persons of African derivation to take place 
under the stipidations of the treaty shall be perfectly free and voluntary on the 
part of adults, and with the full and expressed consent of parents and 
guardians for minor children and wards. 

" Second. The agents of the government desiring to receive such emigrants 
shall be recognized by this government and authorized to solicit such emigra- 
tion, but such agents shall be appointed by such government or with its sanc- 
tion. Their names, with the dates of their appointments, and the terms for 
which they are to continue, shall be made known to this government, which 
shall engage to protect them while peacefully and inoffensively pursuing their 
occupation, biit shall have always a right to reqiiirc the dismissal of any such 
agent whose conduct or deportment shall be found injurious to the peace, safety, 
or welfare of the United States. 



29 

" When any government which ^hall have entered into the treaty shall have 
obtained the consent of a colony or party of emigrants, a record of their names, 
ages, sexes, and conditions shall be made np, with their proposed place of em- 
barkation and destination, dnly attested and verified. Such government shall 
then cause them, with their personal effects, to be received with all convenient 
despatch on board of seaworthy vessels, which shall afford them healthful and 
convenient accommodations of space, air, food, water, and other necessaries for 
their intended voyage, and shall, in all cases, suffer no cruelty, inhumanity, or 
unnecessary severity to be practiced upon them. And families so emigrating 
shall not be separated without their consent. Any party of such emigrants 
who may desire it may be attended by an agent, being a citizen of the United 
States, to be selected by them and approved by the government, who may re- 
main with them during the voyage and after their arrival at their destination, 
until they shall have been established in their new settlement ; but such agent 
shall be paid by them or by the United States, and he shall be liable to be re- 
moved or recalled by this government, and may be replaced upon representa- 
tion from the other contracting party that his proceedings or conduct are disloyal 
or offensive to the government receiving such emigrants. 

" On arriving at the place of debarkation, such emigrants shall be furnished 
with plain but comfortable dwellings, one for each family, or with comfortable 
homes in the families of resident inhabitants of the country, and either with 
lands to be occupied and owned by themselves, adequate to their support and 
maintenance, they practicing ordinary industry in cultivating the same, or else 
Avith employment on hire, with provision for their wants, and compensation ade- 
quate to their support and maintenance, clothing and medicines, and an educa- 
tion of the children in the simple elements of knowledge, which provision shall 
continue for the term of five years, minors and infants being permitted to reside 
with tlieir parents and guardians during their minority, unless apprenticed with 
the consent of tlieir parents and guardians. All such emigrants and their pos- 
terity shall forever remain free, and in no case be reduced to bondage, slaveiy, 
or involuntary servitude, except for crime ; and they shall specially enjoy liberty 
of conscience, and the right to acquire, hold, and transmit property, and all 
other privileges of person common to inhabitants of the country in which they 
reside. It should be further stipulated that in cases of indigence resulting from 
injury, sickness, or age, any of such emigrants who shall become paupers shall 
not thereupon be suffered to perish or to come to want, but shall be supported 
and cared for as is customary with similar inhabitants of the couiitry in which 
they shall be residents. 

" You are authorized to bring this subject to the attention of Earl Russell, 
and to inquire whether the British government has a desire to enter into such a 
negotiation. Should an affirmative answer be given, you may transmit to this 
department any suggestions that Earl Russell may desire to make in the prem- 
ises, and you will, upon due consideration of the same, be furnished with a 
draught of a convention. 

" It should be understood that it is not desired by the United States to give 
to any state a monopoly of the proposed emigration, but to open its benefits on 
equal terms to all states within the tropics, or having colonies there, which, main- 
taining free constitutional governments, shall desire those benefits. As it might 
be expedient to fix upon a definite period for the duration of the proposed treaty, 
you may suggest ten years as the term, with the privilege after that time of ter- 
minating it at the expiration of one year's notice to that effect." 

Respectfully mibmitted. 

JAMES MITCHELL, 

Agent of Emigraticm, 
Hon. C. B. Smith, 

Secretary of the Interior. 



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